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FirstGov.gov Named One of Top 50 Most Useful Web SitesSite Noted as Biggest Surprise Addition for 2002

WASHINGTON, DC -- The U.S. Government's www.FirstGov.gov is one of the "50 Most Incredibly Useful Web sites" according to the July 2002 magazine edition of Yahoo Internet Life. The FirstGov Web site can be found at http://www.firstgov.gov, or through links at the White House homepage (http://www.whitehouse.gov).

"FirstGov is a big part of President's vision to make the government more accessible and responsive to citizens, and it's just the beginning," said Mark Forman, Associate Director for Information Technology and E-Government at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Yahoo Internet Life calls FirstGov.gov the most surprising addition to the year's list of top Web sites and praises the site for the availability and accessibility of government information. "It's now a cinch to get passport applications, birth and marriage certificates, change of address forms and online tax payment information, right from the homepage," the article said.

A United Nations report last month announced the United States as the world leader in using the Internet to deliver information and services to citizens. "No government offers greater online access to official information than the United States," the report said.

On February 27, 2002, the Vice President re-launched the FirstGov Web site as an interagency initiative administered by the General Services Administration (GSA). FirstGov is the U.S. Government's official Internet portal to online federal government transactions, services, and information. It features three customer gateways--citizens, businesses and government. The site has received numerous awards and recognition including the 2002 E-Gov Pioneer Award, the 2001 Grace Hopper Government Technology Leadership award, 2001-2002 Golden Web Award, and 2001 Innovations in American Government Award Finalist. It has also been recognized as the site of the day, week, month and year by: Women's Word Magazine, USAToday.com, FederalNewsRadio.com, USNews.com, Wall Street Journal Classroom Edition, Entrepreneur Magazine.

E-Government is an integral part of the President's Management Agenda to make it easier for citizens and businesses to interact with the government, save taxpayer dollars and streamline citizen-to-government transactions. This vision aims to provide access to online government services and information within three clicks of a mouse.

GSA is a centralized federal procurement and property management agency created by Congress to improve government efficiency and help federal agencies better serve the public. It acquires, on behalf of federal agencies, office space, equipment, telecommunications, information technology, supplies and services. GSA, comprised of 14,000 associates, provides services and solutions for the office operations of over 1 million federal workers located in 8,300 government -owned and leased buildings in 1,600 U.S. communities.